Just a boy
by Luinlothana
Summary: Before James Potter and Lily Evans were even planned there was a boy. A boy whose future was to be dark and affecting all the others living in his time. But there is a long way to go from an innocent child to a Dark Lord.


Disclaimer: Just to make it clear - neither Voldemort nor his magnetic personality are in my possession. Same goes for the rest of Potteroversum including Harry Potter himself. Anybody who would suspect me rather than J.K. Rowling to have rights to aforementioned should seriously consider state of his/her sanity.

Unless that human bein' next to you   
Is unimpressive, undistinguished   
You know who. . .

"Mister Cellophane" John C. Reilly

JUST A BOY

A young but sickly-looking woman was standing on a road leading to her ex-husbands house. It had been four years since she saw the place last time. She had sworn then that she will never come back. Yet she was here, holding her son's hand and wishing her life turned out differently. There she was, looking at covered with snow now great house surrounded with a beautiful garden, which she once hoped to become her home.

"Listen to me, Tommy" she spoke to the three year old boy and coughed "You know that mummy is not well. But mummy loves you and she doesn't want you to grow up while she is just fading. We are going to meet your dad now and maybe he will help us and give mummy some help. All right?"

The boy just nodded in answer. The two went slowly to the house and the woman knocked at the door. They were opened by a servant who was about to ask them something when woman's former husband walked into the hall.

"Thomas!" the woman had a coughing fit after that "Don't you recognize me? It's me Aurelia. Please don't send me away and hear me out!"

The man waved at the servant to send him away.

"I've already told you that I don't want to have anything to do with you. I wonder how could you possibly enter the church when you fooled me enough that I wanted to marry you! You and your kind deserve to rot in Hell!" he shouted "I have new life now. Nobody knows anything about you and I want it to stay that way!"

"Thomas, I love you. You knew that and it didn't change even though you broke my heart. You used to love me now as well. Now I'm dying slowly and I have our son to brought up Please, I came here to. . ."

"I don't care what brought you here. All I want is to see you out of my life immediately. And take that brat with you!" He pointed at the boy who was standing slightly behind his mother staring at the man with widely open eyes

"Thomas. . ." the woman tried one more time

"I have nothing more to tell you." Said the man in the coldest tone possible and closed the door with a thud just before the woman's face.

The woman held her son's hand and went out of her former husband's possession. When they were already on the street the woman pulled her son into embrace.

"Don't cry, Tommy. He couldn't help it. He is a muggle and they are like that. He can't help who he is. We're going to be well on our own as we always were, you'll see. . ." she had to stop talking because she had another coughing fit.

The boy looked carefully at his father's house as if imprinting it in his memory.

"Come, Tommy, we should be going now" the woman whispered noting that snow started falling again.

They walked down the street to a dark alley. There they opened a door, unseen to any muggles that would happen to wander there, and stepped into a small pub. Once inside, the woman took a handful of floo powder and threw it into the fire to go home.

The woman lived with her son in a small house in a small wizard village, Patrock. She tried very hard not let her son fill that they had very few money. Most of it went for potions that she needed to slow her illness. She was hoping to live as long as she could for her son.

She sold, one by one all the most valuable family possessions. Her own earnings weren't big as she was only a herbologist. Once it seemed sufficient enough and not she was hoping she picked a job that would give her a bit more money. Or that would not require ruining her health even more.

Wordlessly she put her little son to bed. Then, whispering, not to provoke coughs, she started telling him his favourite bedtime story.

"You see, Tommy, in seven years you are going to start a real magical school. It's called Hogwarts and it's situated  in a beautiful castle near a lake. The school was started many, many years ago by four brilliant people. They are called the Founders. Their names were Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. And you know what? One of them, Salazar Slytherin, was your great-great-great-something- grandfather. Each of the founders created a secret room in the castle, where only they could enter and they thought of a way to guard that rooms. Gryffindor had a tower which nobody but him could see. It was called the Tower of Glory. Nobody knows where it was because even descendants of Gryffindor couldn't see it. Ravenclaw thought that she would make it best if she created a picture into which you could step in, open a door you could see there and enter her rooms. She decided to call it the Picture of Wisdom. But after two hundred years the picture caught fire and the room of Rowena Ravenclaw was no more. Helga Hufflepuff had other thought. She created a room she could call whenever she wanted and that provided her anything she needed. But she was very compassionate and decided that it would be unfair if other people couldn't use the room so she changed a spell so anybody could use it. The room was called the Room of Requirement. And finally, Salazar Slytherin thought of something very different. He, as you know was a Parselmouth, as was your grandfather and as are you. He thought the best way would be to find a creature that would guide the entrance of his chamber. He picked the biggest snake existing – a basilisk. From the outside the room was only marked by a small symbol of a snake and was placed, from what I know it the last place anybody would look – in a bathroom. More that that – girls bathroom. . ."

The boy giggled and the woman smiled slightly.

"Have you ever seen it, mummy?"

"Yes but that's all I wouldn't be able to open it anyway"

"Maybe I'll figure it out one day"

"Maybe. But as you know, the basilisk is a very dangerous creature. If you look into it's eyes. . ."

"Your eyes are going to turn all red and they will look like the snake's one!' finished the boy eagerly

"Well if you are a Parselmouth, yes, that's right. But for other people it's very dangerous because they become. . . petrified." She finished not wanting to make the story too scary for a child "And as you know it's very hard to wake a petrified person."

"But you could, couldn't you, mummy? You know how to grow mandrakes and all. . ." the boy added more drowsily.

"I know how to grow mandrakes, yes, but it also requires to be able to make a proper potion which I can't"

"You can do everything, mummy" The little boy said confidently and yawned "And will you tell me what was the name of great – grandpa's secret room?"

"Tommy, you've heard the story thousand times already!"

"Mummy, please. . ."

"All right. Nobody knew where the chamber was, what was inside and how to open it so it was called the Chamber of Secrets. And now, you, my little boy, are going to sleep."

"Mummy! You haven't even told me how the Sorting Hat is going to greet me as an heir of one of the founders, just like it greeted you. . ."

"Next time, Tommy, mummy wants to go to sleep as well."

"All right, goodnight, mummy"

"Goodnight my little boy" the woman whispered

She walked in the direction of her room. She was feeling very bad and the weather outside made it even worse today. She was hoping to get Thomas to help her a bit or at least make him promise to take care of Tommy after she passes away. She succeeded in neither. She sighed, and went to bed. It took her a long time to fall asleep and she was waking several times through the night because of the coughing fits.

But she had to be strong for her little Tommy.

Next morning when Tommy woke up his mum was in bed. She cast a spell on food so a breakfast for him prepared itself but she was too weak to get up on her own or to eat anything. She told her son to go outside and play a bit. He did reluctantly, not wanting to leave her but he knew that she didn't like it when he saw her like that.

He didn't have anything particular to do outside because there were hardly kids in Patrock, let alone any his age. So he just wandered about, stopping from time to time to make a snowball and try to hit a tree with it. When he was walking near one of the houses he heard a faint words

_"/Ssso weak, ssso cold, musst hide. . ./" _

Tommy looked around and spotted a snake on the ground. Without thinking he approached it.

_"/You can ssslide under my coat if you wisssh. Why do you have to hide?/"_

_"/Sssome humansss want to kill me becaussse they are ssscared of me. Will you help me?/"_

"/Of courssse, if you want me to. Can you hold me ssso you won't fall when I walk? I'll take you home./"

_"/That'sss very generousss of you, ssspeaking one/"_ the snake hissed and placed itself safely under boy's cloak.

Tommy got up and started slowly walking in the direction of his house. He was interrupted by a few men running down the street. He recognised one of them as an owner of a pet shop, that was placed in the village.

"Hey, boy, you are the little Aurelia's son, aren't you? Have you seen a snake somewhere in here?"

Tommy tried to look surprised

"A snake sir? In the winter?"

"Not a normal snake. That it something they send me somehow but it's highly dangerous. Whoever send this snake wanted to get rid of it surely. It has a quarter of basilisk blood. I don't know how is it even possible. I think you'd better go home and stay there just in case."

"All right, sir. I haven't seen any dangerous snake here. I'm sorry"

With these words he ran to his house and then walked quietly to his room not wanting to disturb his mum.

_"/Are you going to ssstay with usss?/"_ he asked the snake

_"/If you wouldn't mind that, young one. I have no place to go./"_

_"/What ssshall I call you?/" _

_"/I have yet to be given a name/"_

_"/Than maybe. . ./"_ the boy looked around until he spotted his favourite story book his mum wrote for him. He remembered main characters name _"/Maybe you would like to be called Nagini?/"_ he offered

"/It isss a good name. Now I ssshall call you my massster sssince you were the one to give me the name/"

Tommy blinked. This beautiful creature wanted to cal him master?

_"/If you wisssh./"_ he hissed _"/Now have to introduce you to my mum/"_

He went out of the room allowing the snake to slither freely behind him.

"Mummy, are you feeling better? I found a snake in the village. It was cold and people chased him, and I helped him, and I decided to keep him, can I?"

The woman smiled faintly.

"If it promises not to cause any trouble you can. . . Now you can go play with him. I think I need to sleep."

For the next two days Aurelia was feeling weaker and weaker. Finally she called he son.

"Tommy, I don't think mummy will be able to be with you any longer. You must be strong, my dear boy. Don't let others see your tears. You should always be proud, being the last of Slytherin line. And if you are to stay with your father remember never to let muggles use you or hurt you. Can you promise me that, my boy?"

Tommy nodded, very pale, unsure of what was happening. The woman's hand reached to stroke his hair and then dropped ineptly on bedcovers. Tommy, in panic run to a fireplace and threw powder into it calling St. Mungo's. A healer instantly apparated into the house but all he could do was to close the woman's eyes forever. Then he turned to the boy.

"I'm afraid your mummy passed to a better world. What was her name and what is yours?"

Tommy stopped tears from running down his face he had to be strong and proud. As him mummy wanted him to. But he wasn't little Tommy anymore, he decided. Not after her death. She was the only one to call him this way.

"Her names were Aurelia Sylvia and I'm Tom . . . Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Listen, Tom, do you know where is your dad?"

"I know. And mum had an address somewhere." 

"Than pack your possessions, Tom, and we will go to him, all right?"

The boy nodded. He inwardly flinched when the healer was repeating his name like that. It sounded too much like his father's for his liking. One day maybe he will think of another name. But now he had other things to worry about.

He entered his room.

_"/Nagini?/"_ he hissed

_"/Yes massster?/"_

_"/My mum died. Now there isss just the two of usss/."_ He said packing his few clothed to a bag, than placing the story book on the top and putting little snake pendant his mum gave him and charmed to be invisible for muggles. _"/Hide under my clothes so they won't take you from me/"_

When the snake did as he asked he decided he was ready. He still had hard time stopping tears but he was not about to break a promise he made to his mum.

The healer took him to his father's house and disapparated after a short information of what happened. Thomas Riddle wasn't abut to let his son into his home though. He pushed him inside his car and rode for three hours to get to orphanage. The boy shivered at the sight of it.

The man left his son in some kind of office and left. A fat old lady behind the desk motioned the boy to come closer.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Tom Marvolo Riddle, madam" answered the boy

"Marvolo? What kind of name is that? Your mother had it off with a circus illusionist, eh? No wonder her husband left you here. I haven't heard such a stupid name in years and I've heard  a lot. The kids are going to have a good laugh at you. Look at you! Small, scrawny and with stupid name!"

Tom looked at the floor feeling blood buzzing in his vines. He won't let the muggles hurt him, just like he promised his mum. But one day he will make sure that those who tried are punished. He will have the pride of Slytherin but he will remember. He will always remember.

A/N: For now this fic is going to be a standalone. I planned  a whole story telling the biography of Voldemort but for now I just have the first part and a few ideas for the next. But I'll honestly say that I want to work on my other fics a bit and while I promise that later I will come back to this story but for now this is it. I hesitated if I should send it now or not but I decided it can be standalone as well so I did. I worn you loyally that when I send next chapters the rating will go up and the story will get darker (much for the obvious). I hope you liked it.


End file.
